Tuesday, September 27, 2016

This week was another great week here in the TSAM. The highlight ofthe week was when we got a call from a member in another part of SanAntonio. She met a woman and her son who were interested in meetingwith us. We went by the next day and met Pam. Pam is such a nice andcaring lady. She cares for people who have disabilities and is one ofthe most genuinely kind and caring people I have ever met. We wereable to give her a Book of Mormon and will be going back soon!Last night we had a huge thunderstorm. I slept through most of it, butmy companion woke up and said the streets were completely flooded. Ithaca stopped raining and isn't as flooded anymore so don't worry.We had service this week at the San Antonio Food Bank. There were a lot of people there. We sorted through the food and threw out the bad stuff. They were playing music really loud and it was really distracting. There was a bag of flour that wasn't closed that made a big mess.We also had Women's Conference this Saturday ( it is a meeting wherethe general authorities of the church speak specifically to the Womenof the church). It was so great to hear them speak. We had a coupleinvestigators there and they really enjoyed the messages and songsthat were shared. I really enjoyed Sister Bingham's talk about how weshould have charity, the pure love of Christ. It reminds me of one thetalks we had in Church yesterday. He spoke about how we live inpractice mode and not at performance level. He urged us to realizethat everyone, including ourselves, make mistakes so we shouldn'tjudge others.

I am so excited for General Conference this weekend! I know that itwill be great and that we can make it more meaningful as we prepareahead of time and go with a question or goal in mind.

Have a great week!

Sister OlsenWe got wet again this week. It started dumping and we were biking overto dinner. I think this was the most wet I have been. We might as wellhave been standing underneath a waterfall.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Tuesday we had zone conference and were able to hear from our MissionPresident and our other mission leaders. The theme of the conferencewas prayer. It was so amazing. The spirit was so strong. We talked alot about how prayer is essential in conversion. As missionaries weinvite people to pray all the time because we know that no one canknow of the truthfulness of the gospel without first honestly askingGod in prayer. We know that those who do ask in faith with receive ananswer through the Holy Spirit.

The rest of our week was filled with biking all around our area tryingto find more people to teach. We were specifically focused on tryingto visit people who don't always come to church. We visited onefamily who the husband served a mission in Long Beach California. Thatnight when we were eating with a member, we found out that the husband alsoserved in Long Beach at the same time. Now both our member andthe Mission President are going to reach out to this family.Hopefully, we can all help this family to come back to church.

The craziest part of the week was when we were at service and got acall from the Assistants. They called to tell us that we weremoving... in an hour. So we rushed home and packed everything.(Missionary apartments have a lot random stuff that gets left behindfrom years of missionaries that come and go). It is nice though, the newapartment is a lot nicer and it is fun to live with another set ofsisters.

This week we saw a lot of animals kittens,dogs, deer, and peacocks. Idon't know why but, there is a neighborhood here that has tons ofpeacocks.

The best part of the week is always when we are able to teach peopleand testify to them how much God loves them. We visited an older womanthis week and I could feel how much her Heavenly Father loved her. Itwas amazing. I know that God is mindful of each of us and loves usmore than we can comprehend.

Have a great week!Sister Olsen

Picture 1: Biking action shot ( some other sisters saw us and took the picture)Picture 2/3 peacocksPicture 4 kittens

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

On Tuesday I met my new companion, Sister Atkins, and moved into mynew area here in the Leon Valley area of San Antonio. Sister Atkins isgreat. She has been out 6 weeks longer than I have, so we are bothstill pretty new. She is from a small town in Colorado. Our area isright by the medical school and it is pretty urban. Most of the peoplethat come to church are young couples who are there for the medicalschool.

This area used to have a car, but they are trying to reduce the amountof cars in the mission so they moved a car to another area. So Icontinue to bike! This week there has been tons of butterflies flyingaround. They all seemed to come out this week. It makes biking alittle more adventurous.

We don't have anyone that we are consistently teaching here so we havebeen doing a lot of service. We helped out at a diaper bank where wepackaged diapers that are given out to families. We also always offerto help people as we are biking around and talking to people. One daywe saw a woman mowing the lawn. Sister Atkins asked if she could mowthe lawn and she actually said yes. So Sister Atkins jumped off herbike and started mowing the lawn right there in her skirt andeverything thing. While she was mowing the thick grass, I talked tothe woman about the church.

This week we met a man at an apartment complex. He had a lot ofquestions about God and faith. We were able to explain that the Bookof Mormon could answer a lot of his questions. We gave him a copy andsome chapters to read. Hopefully we will be able to follow up with himsoon. We were able leave him with Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto meI will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness thatthey may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humblethemselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, andhave faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong untothem"

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

I got my transfer news this morning and I will be headed to a new area
in San Antonio ( Leon Valley). My new companion will be Sister
Atkins. I have grown to love this area so much. I will definitively
miss the people who I have been able to get to know here. I loved
being Sister Martin's companion so much. She taught me so much and I
am so grateful for the opportunity to be her companion this past
transfer. I don't really know how to adequately put into words how
much I love this area. I know that Sister Martin and her new
companion will continue to do wonders in this area.

This past week was really busy. Wednesday was probably my busiest day
in the mission so far. We were biking all over our area in order to
teach four different lessons. One of those lessons was with "Joe". We
were not able to meet with him last week because he got a job. So, we
were a little concerned about our lesson with him this week. We were
going to have to tell him some news and we didn't want him to get
discouraged or anything. We prayed and discussed a lot leading up to
that lesson in order to discern the best way that we could teach him.
When we met with him, he addressed our concern first without us
bringing it up. It was such a relief and a blessing. I know that we
were blessed because of our diligence and effort.

I look forward to updating y'all about my new area next
This week I would like to include Luke 9:24 and our prophet, Thomas S.
Monson's, thoughts on that scripture:

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will
lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it".
"I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in
service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who
live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose
their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow
and flourish--and in effect save their lives".

It continues to be a complete joy to serve here in Texas.

Have a great week!
Sister Olsen

Picture1: our district this transfer
Picture2: it rained again this week
Picture3: double rainbow:)
Picture4: a nice member gave Sister Martin and I dresses
picture 5: me and Sister Martin with sister Scott and Bell ( they
always take us grocery shopping on Mondays)